Stencil-cutting machine.



W. H. SCOTT.

STENGIL CUTTING MACHINE. APPLIOATION FILED 001.25, 1909.

955,21 Q Y Patented Apr. 19, 1910.

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-sTBNcIL CUTTING MAUHINE.

APPLIOATION IILED OCT. 25, 1909. I 955,21 6, Patented Apr. -19, 1910.

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VV. 1i. UULL'Ll STENGIL CUTTING MAOHINB.

APPLIOATION FILED 06125, 1909.

Patented Apr. 19, 1910.

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STENGIL CUTTING MACHINE.

APPLIGATION'HLED 001. 25; 1909.

Patented Apr. 19,1910.

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M DQAAEAU @AAL-lilla@ ELEALNA UjJi/ lde WILLIAM I-I. SCOTT, OF MAPLEWOOD, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO A. C. L. I-IAASE, LOUIS H. HAASE, EDWARD T. I-IAASE, WILLIAM H. I-IAASE, AND ANNIE RIESMEYER, ALL 0F ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, AND AMELIA MARX, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A COPARTNER- SHIP UNDER FIRM-NAME OF AMERICAN DIAGRAPI-I COMPANY.

STENCIL-CUTTING MACHINE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. Soo'r'r, a citizen of the United States, Vresiding at Maplewood, Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Im rovement in Stencil-Cutting Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specilication, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved stencil cutting` machine. Fig. 2 is a side elevational view, partly in section. Fig. 3 is a front elevational view. Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical sectional view through the front portion of the machine. Fig. 5 is a detaill view of the ratchet and pawl feed mechanism. Fig. 6 is a detail horizontal plan view, partly in section.

This invention relates to a new and useful improvement in stencil cutting machines,

the object being to construct a machine of the character described so that the work thereof will be visible.

The particular mechanism whereby the puncturing dies are forced through the blank in the formation of a stencil, may be of any desired form, such for instance as that illustrated in the patent to Remmers, No. 808,308, dated December 26, 1905. My present invention does not embody any special mechanism for operating the die to cut the stencil, hence any desired mechanism of this character may be used.

In the drawings, 1 indicates a base casting provided with a post 2, on which is revolubl-y mounted a die carrier 3.

4C are the male dies mounted upon the lower ends of stems 5, surrounded by springs 6, which tend to hold said parts elevated. The male dies coperate with their complementary female dies 7 mounted in the lower part of the die carrier, under what might be termed the throat thereof. The male and female dies move together and are always in registration.

8 is a plunger slidingly mounted in the cap casting 9 and connected by toggle links 10 and 10a to a link 11 operated by a rock arm 12 fixed to a rock shaft 13, one end of which finds a bearing in the upper end of Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 25, 1909.

Patented Apr. 19, 1910.

Serial No. 524,378.

post 2. The opposite end of this rock shaft 13 inds a bearing in a post 9a extending up from the cap casting 9. 14 is an operating handle connected to the shaft 13. There is an indeX dial 15 on the cap plate, and an indicating hand 16 on the die carrier. The cap plate 9 is cut away, preferably at the left hand side, as shown in Fig. 1, so that the operator can grasp and manipulate the die carrier with his left hand while the right hand operates the operating handle.

The operation of the machine thus described is brieiy as follows: The operator rotates the die carrier until the indicating hand points to the desired character, after which the handle is operated by being pulled forward to the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2. This causes the plunger 8, whose lower end is preferably beveled, to engage the stem of the male die in line therewith, and force said male die into the female die. Upon releasing the handle, the spring 6 restores the male die to normal position. A spring 17, attached at some appropriate point to an immovable part and connected with the operating handle, is also preferably used to restore said handle to its normal position and hold it raised. If desired, a centering plunger 18, operated by a link 19, connected to a rock arm 20 on shaft 13, may be used in connection with the beveled faces 3a on the die carrier to center the stem of the die carrier with respect to the plunger 8. This centering plunger operates in guides in the post 9a. It is only necessary for the centering plunger 18 to bring the die stem within the zone of the centering point of the plunger 8, as the beveled lower edge of said plunger will accurately position the die at the time the penetration is made.

X is a blank in which the stenciling characters are to be punched. This blank is adjusted in position between feed belts, and in manipulating the operating handle to punch a selected character therein, said blank is moved in position under the operated die, and at the same time the blank is fed forward. The final movement of the operating handle punches the stenciling character in the blank. The return movement of the operating handle causes the blank to be moved outwardly into position to be seen by the operator. This movement of the blank renders the stenciling visible, as it is called, and if, in the operation of the machine, the operator is compelled to leave the machine in the middle of a word, he is enabled to see at a glance, upon his return, the next letter to be selected and positioned in the further operation of the machine.

Referring to Fig. 2, 2l indicates a rock arm on the shaft 13, to which is connected a link 22, said link being connected at its lower end to a rock arm 23, whereby it is caused to move substantially as a member of a parallelogram.

2Liis a pin or roller on the link 22, which operates in a cam slot in the end of a bell crank lever 25. rThis cam slot is so shaped that when the operating handle raises the link Q2, the bell crank lever 2o will be moved in the first part of such movement, the latter part of the movement of the link oc.- curring while the bell crank lever remains stationary. jrs the bell crank lever is the operating medium for causing the feeding and positioning of the blank to be stenciled, the necessity for permittingl the blank to remain stationary while the handle continues its final movement, wherein the punching of a blank occurs, will be appreciated.

The bell crank lever Q5 is fixed to a rock shaft 2o, to the opposite end of which is arranged an arm 2T. This arm 2'( and the bell crank lever 25 have slot and pin connections, with head blocks 28, in which are mounted shafts Q9 and 230 in such manner that said shafts may rotate in the head blocks, but are not adjustable longitudinally relative thereto. This manner of mounting` the shafts can be accomplished by forming shoulders on the shafts on each side of the head blocks, as shown in Fig. 2. The shafts 29 and 30 are slidingly mounted in elongated bearings Q9 and 30 formen in the base and cap casting, the bearings for the shafts Q9 being' enlarged vertically at their forward edges and preferably tapering thence rearwardly, so as to permit the forward ends of the shafts 29 to be raised slightly for the purpose of introducing a blank under the feed belt. carried by said shafts.

The forward ends of shafts 30 rest in bearings 8Ob under the base plate. On the forward ends of the shafts 29 and 30 are feed rollers 3l and 32, over which pass feed belts 3ld and 32a, of rubber, leather, or other suitable material. The function of these feed belts is to grip the inner edge of the blank to be steneiled, as shown in Fig. l, and to move the blank inwardly and forwardly to be punched, and outwardly to display the character punched therein, at each operation of the handle. The means for effecting the in-and-out movement is the bell crank lever 25, which, at each operation of the handle, is vibrated so as to move the two pairs of shafts and their carried feed belts inwardly and outwardly. The means for effecting the feeding of the blank is a ratchet wheel 33 mounted on either the shaft 29 or the shaft 30. I have shown said ratchet wheel mounted on the shaft 30 (see Fig. 2).

34 is a pawl-carrying lever loosely pivoted on the shaft 30, said lever carrying a pawl 35 which cooperates with the ratchet.

36 is a projection on the pawl-carrying lever which cooperates with a cam plate 8T secured to the base casting of the machine. A spring 3S cooperates with this pawl-carrying lever so as to restore it to normal position, c., retract the pawl when the shaft 30 moves outwardly, so that said pawl will take a new position behind the next adjacent ratchet tooth. Vhen the handle is pulled forwardly to punch a character in the blank, the feed belts and the blank are moved inwardly by the bell crank lever, and the spring causes the pawl carrier to hug the cam face and to feed the blank forwardly until the shaft 30 is brought to a position of rest. Instead of relying` upon spring action to operate the pawl, the cam plate can be provided with a slot so that it will positively rock the pawl to effect the feeding action and the recovery of the pawls. The shafts 29 and 30 are preferably geared together by means of meshing gear wheels 3S) and a0, shown in Fig. t.

Stencil blanks are usually of uniform size, for a given number of lines containing so many characters or letters per line. lf it is desired to center a word or words containing a certain number of characters in a line, I provide a scale 4l, as shown in Fig. l, whereby this may be done. This scale is marked l to 20, but it is obvious that these numbers could be changed if different sized blanks were used. Tf there is but one character in the line and it is desired to locate that character in the center of a given sized blank, the left hand edge of the blank is positioned so as to coincide with the numeral l on the scale. Then the means for operating the cutting dies is operated, the blank will be shifted inwardly and leftwardly, and the character will be punched directly in the center of the blank of given size, Tf the word or line of characters contains eleven characters, the left hand edge of the blank is positioned so as to begin at ll, and so on. The horizontal lines 4t2 on the supporting table are, of course, relied upon to position the long edges of the blank.

43 is a bell crank lever which may be operated by hand, for the purpose of throwing out the paper feed pawl and permitting the free movement of the paper.

I am aware that minor changes in the construction, arrangement and combination of the several parts of my device can be made and substituted for those herein shown and described, without in the least departing from the nature and principle of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. In a stencil machine, the combination with a stencil cutting mechanism, and automatically operating means actuated by the stencil cutting operating mechanism for moving the blank into and from position with respect to the cutting die whereby the work of the machine is visible.

2. In a stencil machine, the combination with a stencil cutting mechanism, of means for operating a positioned die, and means for holding the blank to be punched, said means being automatically moved by the die operating means to feed the blank, and to move said blank into and from position with respect to the cutting die.

3. In a stencil machine, the combination with dies and their co-perating parts, of means for operating a positioned die, belts for holding the blank to be punched, means whereby said belts are shifted bodily at an angle relative to their direction of travel and means operable by said die-operating means for driving said belts.

4. In a stencil machine, the combination of punching dies and their coperating parts, means for operating a positioned die, two belts between which the blank to be punched is held and fed, said belts being operable from said die-operating means, whereby said belts are shifted bodily at an angle relative to their direction of travel and one of said belts being movable independently of the other for the purpose of positioning the blank between said belts.

5. In a stencil machine, the combination of punching dies and their cooperating parts, means for operating a positioned die, two belts between which the blank to be punched is held and fed, said belts being operable from said die-operating means, and one of said belts being movable at an angle to the direction of its travel whereby it may be separated from its companion belt to provide a space for the insertion of the blank.

6. In a stencil machine, the combination of dies and their coperating parts, means for operating said dies, upper and lower feed belts, means whereby said belts are shifted bodily relative to their direction of travel driving mechanism for said belts operable from the die-operating mechanism, the upper belt being supported in such manner that it may be lifted to provide a space for the insertion of the blank to be punched.

7. In a stencil machine, the combination of cutting dies and their operating means, upper and lower feed belts, and means operable from said die-operating means for moving said feed belts transversely the direction of their feed.

8. In a stencil machine, the combination of cutting dies and their operating means, upper and lower feed belts, driving shafts therefor, means for rotating said driving shafts to effect the feed of said belts, and means for effecting a longitudinal movement of said shafts to render the work of the machine visible.

9. In a stencil machine, the combination of cutting dies and their operating means, feeding mechanism for the blank, means whereby said feeding mechanism is intermittently actuated in one direction and alternately shifting in a direction at right angles to the direction of feed and means for rendering said feeding mechanism inoperative during part of the movement of the die-operat ing means.

l0. In a stencil machine, the combination of cutting dies and their operating means, feeding devices which include means for holding and feeding the blank to be punched, means operable by the die-operating means to move the blank in and out so as to render the work of the machine visible said in-andout movement of the blank effecting its feed.

11. In a stencil machine, the combination of cutting dies and their operating means, feed belts normally in registration with a selected die to be operated, and means operable by the die-operating means to move said feed belts out of the way and to bring the blank held thereby into position to be cut by the die being operated.

12. In a stencil machine, the combination with a stencil cutting mechanism of means for operating a positioned die, a pair of belts for holding the blank to be punched and carrying the same through the machine and automatic means operated by the cutting movement of the machine for shifting -the belts at an angle relative to their line of travel.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiX my signature in the presence of two witnesses, this 23rd day of October, 1909.

WILLIAM H. SCOTT.

Witnesses:

M. P. SMITH, ALMA GEBHART. 

